{"id":4620,"date":"2026-08-11T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/?post_type=news&p=4620"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:51:11","slug":"stupa-ai-officiating","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/stupa-ai-officiating\/","title":{"rendered":"India's AI company Stupa signs a three-year deal with the UK's largest indoor tournament to overhaul officiating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indian sports tech companyStupa Sports Analytics<\/strong>has signed aThree-year deal<\/strong>with Pickleball England, becoming the official data and technology partner of the English Open, one of Britain's biggest indoor tournaments. US outlet Pickleball News Asia reported the deal on August 10, 2026. The tournament runsfrom August 11 to 16<\/strong>at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. On a stage the organizers bill as one of the world's largest indoor pickleball tournaments, AI line calling and video review arrive in full.<\/p>\n

An Indian company that started out with AI analysis for table tennis is now handling part of the officiating on British courts. The shift from human calls to AI, already underway in pickleball, is no longer a US-only story. For players and tournament organizers in Japan, it isn't somebody else's problem either.<\/p>\n

A three-year deal hands English Open line calls to AI<\/h2>\n

Stupa brings three main systems to the English Open. First, real-time AI match analysis for players, coaches, broadcasters and spectators. Second, a video-basedDecision Review System\uff08DRS\uff09<\/strong>that automates line calls in much the way football's VAR does. Third, dynamic broadcast and LED graphics plus live-stream production.<\/p>\n

Pickleball was built from the start on self-officiating, with players calling in and out on their own side of the court. As the pro game grew and prize money climbed, disputes over close calls piled up, and the push to settle them with video and AI gathered force. This contract means that shift has now reached a major British event.Major international pickleball tournaments<\/a>: go down the list and the number of events lifting broadcast quality and officiating accuracy at the same time keeps climbing.<\/p>\n

Stupa CEO and co-founder Megha Gambhir said the partnership with Pickleball England reflects a shared vision of using technology to raise officiating, broadcasting and fan engagement. Pickleball England CEO Karen Mitchell added that as the English Open grows in scale and stature, the organization will keep investing in innovations that improve the competitive experience.<\/p>\n

Why Stupa, raised on table tennis data, came to pickleball<\/h2>\n

Stupa Sports Analytics is known as the Indian company that brought AI analysis to table tennis. Gambhir founded it with Deepak Malik, a former coach of India's national table tennis team, and built a record in match data and player performance analysis. From there it has moved sideways into sports whose officiating and measurement logic is close to the same.<\/p>\n

Stupa already works with Major League Table Tennis, Table Tennis New Zealand, badminton and padel (the Generali Hexagon Cup). Ball tracking, video in\/out calls and broadcast graphics all carry across sports, which made pickleball a natural extension. By moving technology sharpened in a mature, heavily measured sport into one whose rules are young and whose operations are still developing, Stupa is staking out a first-mover position.<\/p>\n

Owl AI and PlayReplay join in 2026 as AI calls head toward a global standard<\/h2>\n

AI officiating is not Stupa's move alone. In the US, from the 2026 season Major League Pickleball (MLP) is pairing withOwl AI<\/strong>while Pickleball Inc. (the PPA's parent company) has teamed withPlayReplay<\/strong>on automated line calling. Top events, including the sport's premierPPA Tour<\/a>are shifting one after another to a setup where AI draws the line.<\/p>\n

The three systems aim at the same target but differ in design. The table below sets out what can be pinned down from public information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
System<\/th>\nProvider<\/th>\nWhere it runs (2026)<\/th>\nFeatures<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
DRS (video review) + AI analysis<\/td>\nStupa Sports Analytics (India)<\/td>\nEnglish Open<\/td>\nLine calling, analytics and broadcast graphics delivered as one package<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Owl AI<\/td>\nOwl AI (US)<\/td>\nMajor League Pickleball<\/td>\nSoftware-based, using broadcast camera feeds. Integrates with existing production setups<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PlayReplay<\/td>\nPlayReplay<\/td>\nPPA Tour events<\/td>\nFour cameras mounted on the net posts. Holds ITF Silver certification<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Stupa's strength is that it doesn't sell line calling on its own but takes on analytics, broadcast and streaming together. The NEC, an indoor venue, makes lighting and camera positions easy to control, good conditions for merging video-based calls with the broadcast. The billing as one of the world's largest indoor tournaments also gives Stupa a proving ground for the technology.<\/p>\n

The gap between AI calls and Japan's self-officiated courts<\/h2>\n

Most tournaments in Japan still run on player self-calls and human line judges. Given equipment costs and venue limits, adopting the same AI officiating as top events in Britain or the US is not realistic right now. At the same time, the move to make calls visible through data and video keeps advancing, as seen inDUPR's introduction of a dedicated rating for its wheelchair division<\/a>and it is spreading steadily from the edges of the sport.<\/p>\n

What players in Japan should keep in mind is that the officiating environment can change the moment they step into an international event. A player used to self-calling who walks onto a court with AI line calls and video challenges has to switch how they deal with calls altogether. At home, overseas-backed events such as PPA ASIA 500 in Tokyo are starting to arrive, so playing a match under AI officiating in Japan is not far off. For organizers, this British contract drives home that broadcast quality and transparent officiating now feed straight into attendance and sponsorship.<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h3>\n